Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World

About the book

David builds Episode 83 around the history, praises the story, and later uses it as a reference point for early industries, financing, the war of the currents, and Westinghouse's role in the Carnegie-Frick conflict.

Why read it

Best if you want a founder-centered history of how invention, financing, standards, and rivalry shaped the early electric power industry.

Evidence and original sources

This record is supported by 10 public evidence rows linked to original Founders episodes.

• Teddy Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan — David compares The Hour of Fate to Empires of Light (Founders #83) as another book about competing historical figures.
• Alfred Nobel — David compares Alfred Nobel's financing lesson with the Edison-Tesla lesson from what he recalls as The Empire of Light.
• Thomas Edison — David identifies Empires of Light as covering the War of the Currents and ties it to episode 83.
• Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick — David says he covered this book on episode 83.
• Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, George Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World — This episode is dedicated to Jill Jonnes's Empires of Light, covering Edison, Tesla, and Westinghouse's race to electrify the world.
• Walter and Olive Ann Beech (Aviation Legends) — The host compares Beech Aircraft’s early industry context to his prior discussion of Empires of Light.